INTRODUCTION

Known in Italy as “il Sommo Poeta” (“the Supreme Poet”), Dante Alighieri’s relatively short list of works contains some of the most highly influential pieces in the literary canon. Although he is most well-known for his epic poem The Divine Comedy (ca. 1308-21), Dante was a political thinker as well as a poet and prose writer. In fact, his influence also stretched beyond literature to language, contributing to the slow demise of Latin as a predominant literary tool. Latin was the prevailing written language of the time; all of the most scholarly individuals used it. Florence-born Dante, however, political free-thinking rebel that he was, chose to write in the language of his forefathers and countrymen: Italian. By doing so, Dante effectively turned Italian into a literary language, thereby securing his designation as “Father of the Italian Language,” one of several honorary titles assigned to him.

With its solemn purpose and literary style, The Divine Comedy soon established that it was entirely possible for Italian to be used as a literary language. The Italian in which Dante wrote was mostly based on the regional dialect of Tuscany, with some elements of other regional dialects. His aim was to deliberately reach a diverse readership throughout Italy—not just people of scholarship or high status who understood and spoke Latin. By creating an epic poem, both structurally and in its philosophic purpose, he established that the Italian language was more than suitable for the highest form of literary expression.

Publishing works in Italian marked Dante as one of the first (though soon to be followed by other writers such as Chaucer and Boccaccio) to break free from the established standard of writing in Latin (the language of religion, history, and scholarly study as well as of lyric poetry). This break from the norm set a precedent and allowed more literature to be published in other languages for wider audiences—this would ultimately set the stage for higher levels of literacy. However, Dante did not really become widely read (that is, beyond Italy) until the Romantic era (approximately 1820-90), when he was viewed as an “original genius” and placed in stature alongside Shakespeare and Homer—pretty good company. Throughout the nineteenth century, Dante’s reputation grew, and by the time of the centenary in 1865 of his birth, he was firmly viewed as one of the greatest literary icons of the Western world.

Now that we have noted the steady increase in Dante’s fame, let us examine more closely the man behind the legend. In order to do so, we must go on a fact-finding mission through the works he has left behind. Why? Because Dante included numerous autobiographical references throughout his writings, and he placed himself as the central character taking the epic journey in The Divine Comedy. This is where our search begins. References he makes within this epic poem are our only indication of Dante’s birth date. The exact year and date of his birth are unknown, but searching through The Divine Comedy we find his statement “Halfway through the journey we are living” (The Inferno). This is a clue. A foundation of Dante’s Florentine culture was the Bible, and within this text (Ps. 90:10) a full lifespan is described as “three score and ten years,” or 70. Therefore, if he is halfway through the journey of life, he must be roughly 35 years old. Because there is indication within the The Divine Comedy that the events take place in 1300, that would mean he was born around 1265. Now we have a hint of the year, but what about the date? In the Paradiso section of The Divine Comedy, he refers to his being born when the sun was in the constellation Gemini, which would place his birth date somewhere between mid-May and mid-June. Not as precise a date of birth as some might like, but it’s a start. Why is it necessary for us to search Dante’s writing in this manner for factual evidence of his life? By all accounts, Dante did not leave behind any autobiographical data other than references such as these found in his writings, what is made available in public records of the time, and what is recounted in Giovanni Boccaccio’s formal life of Dante, Trattatello in laude di Dante (Little Tractate in Praise of Dante), written at some point after 1348.

It is largely through these public records and Boccaccio’s account that we are able to gather information concerning Dante’s childhood as well as his literary and political life. We know Dante’s mother was Bella degli Abati, who died sometime before his tenth birthday. His father, Alighiero di Bellincione, soon remarried to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi, with whom he had two children, Dante’s half-brother Francesco and half-sister Tana (Gaetana).